Schumer Announces Over $13,000 Coming To Walter Elwood Museum

U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer today announced that $13,500 in federal funds has been awarded to the Walter Elwood Museum of Amsterdam in Montgomery County from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) as a Conservation Project Support (CPS) grant. The Museum will use the funds for a variety of museum conservation projects including an environmental survey of the facilities and collections care training workshops.

"This is great news for Amsterdam," Schumer said. "The Elwood Museum has many unique collections enjoyed by the community and visitors to the area. It is essential that we preserve these collections so that they can continue to be enjoyed by everyone for generations to come."

The Walter Elwood Museum will use its grant to conduct an environmental survey of the museum's buildings and facilities and to develop a comprehensive housekeeping, integrated pest management and disaster plan for all of the facilities. Federal funds will also be used to conduct handson workshops for staff, interns, and volunteers on collections care.

The IMLS Conservation Project Support program awards matching grants to help museums identify conservation needs and priorities and perform activities to ensure the safekeeping of their collections. Conservation Project Support grants help museums develop a logical, institutionwide approach to caring for their living and nonliving collections. Collections may be in one of four categories: (1) nonliving, (2) natural history, (3) living plants, or (4) living animals. Grants are available for five broad types of conservation activities: (1) surveys (general, detailed condition, or environmental); (2) training; (3) research; (4) treatment; and (5) environmental improvements. This year, sixtyfive projects out of 172 CPS applications were chosen to receive a total of nearly $4.9 million in federal funding.